cameron james henderson born this morning to our talented writer and producer and her husband, taking after dad. cameron's a manly 8 pounds, 3 ounces and taking after mom, knows how to rock head ware. from all of us at "the lead," congratulations. beautiful family. how do you look so good after having a kid? that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. i turn you over to wolf blitzer. he's in "the situation room." >> thanks very much. happening now, killer floods, a foot and a half of rain in just 24 hours unleashes torrents of fat moving water on the florida panhandle, cutting off people. will the reason make this disaster worse. new takeovers by russian militants in eastern ukraine, occupying more government sites. we go there live. is the crisis right now on the verge of exploding?

family affair. the wife of disgraced clippers' owner donald sterling, could she be the team's next owner now that the nba has banned her husband for life? we have new details of their complex relationship and her own legal wrangling. new search, navy ships set out to look for malaysia flight 370 thousands of miles from the current operation. the company claims to have found a plane in the ocean near bangladesh. experts call it far-fetched. could it be the missing airliner? i'm wolf bliter. you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> following multiple breaking news stories right now. fire and floods in california. flames are burning out of control, near los angeles threatening homes, forcing residents to flee. in florida, deadly flooding, unlike anything most of the residents have seen in their lifetimes. hundreds of people have been trapped by fast-rising water, leading to very, very dramatic

rescues. cnn correspondents covering all angle of the breaking stories. start with paul vercammen in rancho cucamonga in california. what's the latest on that fire, paul? >> reporter: well, wolf, the fire has burned 800 acres. a short time ago, fire roared through the canyon. we saw ten acres burn up there, we've had 1600 homes evacuated. no homes burned down yet. the good news for these firefighters, there is what they call defensible space. you can see the asphalt the fire burning in the vast national forest, absolutely so much smoke kind of blotting out the sun and everything else at this time. a lot of resources responding to this fire and they are responding quickly. we've got at least 550 firefighters on the ground. but you're not hearing helicopters and you're not hearing fixed wing aircraft. that's because the winds crested at 80 miles per hour, just absolutely vicious winds. it too dangerous right now to fly and drop water via helicopter or retardant via

fixed wing aircraft. >> what are they saying? what's expected in the next hour or two? >> reporter: well, what they're saying is, they actually think the winds will die down. that will help firefighters immensely. another point to make, as they get more resources here, look way down the street there, wolf, you can see engines have literally been going right by us, able to get in structure protection and that's when these crews ring an area -- we saw a dozier cutting fire line and do that job that is so necessary which is cutting fire lines and using existing asphalt and other forms to dpeen these houses against the fire. so far, so good. we haven't seen any homes burned. as you look at forest service truck, these are critical because they can go up the canyons without hooking up to a fire hydrant, they carry enough water to get after the fire. most of it is burning in the wild land.

we haven't seen anything dramatic where a home's caught fire. that's the good news so far. >> all right, paul, we'll stay in touch with you, fire's out in california. now to floods in florida. meteorologist chad meyers in pensacola. chad, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: seeing streets that have turned into rivers. but there's no street left. the asphalt's gone. the base level's gone. the sand is gone. it looks like a river. looks like the canadian river in oklahoma city, all sand underneath, water running through streets and people saying, how did this happen? we didn't have to ask for flood insurance when we bought the house. it's never flooded here as long as i lived here, 20, 30 years but the water came up today. here's what it's like if the water cops rushing into your house at 2:00 in the morning. >> i talked and -- >> reporter: through the back doors and flowing in out this door.

so we just had water in the house, we had kids, we were getting a claire to get into the attic, we didn't know what was going to happen. there's a pretty frightening evening. >> reporter: some people did have to get in the attic, wolf, it got that high in some of the houses. flash flood. i would be waist-deep in water 12 hours ago but it's gone, way down there now. but that doesn't help when the water's in your drywall, wood floor, electrical system, in your basement, for one thing. not a lot of basements here in florida but some people were pumping out water from homes today. so the flash up and the flash down doesn't help when you're soaked, couch is soaked, tv's ruined and everything else gone. a lot of rebuilding. some people telling me their home knocked down by a tornado than flooded because it's a longer process to put this together than a tornado-knocked down house because at least you get money right away and you rebuild. this is a mess.

>> amazing video shot showing these floods, showing homes. obviously a lot are going to be destroyed by all of the water yesterday, you were chasing tornadoes. today, floods. is this connected? what's going on? >> reporter: we had a rash of good luck in alabama and mississippi, but the people of florida panhandle here, they took the brunt of it. didn't get tornadoes here. but what the moisture that should have been in birmingham, tuscaloosa, tupelo to make tornadoes didn't get there, cut off at pensacola. and that water rained and it rained and rained. talk to the mayor in a minute what it was like for 20 hours of nonstop rainfall. some co-op reports say 25 inches of rain in 24 hours. some of that unofficial but if you have a big enough bucket, you can see how much rain came down. no place for two feet of water to go that comes down in one day. that's more than half of the

year's rainfall total in less than 24 hours. >> chad, we'll get back to you. i want to bring in meteorologist jennifer grey. she's over at cnn severe weather center. this is a horrible situation. but is more rain actually on the way? >> just isolated showers as we go through tomorrow and possibly friday. but as we get closer to the weekend, things should start to calm down. we're not going to see what we've seen over the past couple of days. things are definitely improving, minute by minute. now we have a few coastal showers here in the panhandle, and that's really it. look what happened, though, over pensacola. these are rainfall estimates. you can see in the white over pensacola, over ten inches of rain. that's a lot of rain for one place. what happened, just like chad said, we had all of this moisture basically stuck right over the florida panhandle. nothing was pushing it out of the way. so the showers stayed over that one area. if you think of a train on the railroad tracks, one car after another over the same spot over

and over, that moisture stayed right there, and produced incredible amounts of rain. we're looking at almost 19 inches of rain in milton, pensacola, picking up 18 inches. so this rain has definitely caused huge problems across the panhandle. as we go forward in time, we could see about four more inches of rain. but this is farther east than pensacola. if you look up to the east, the northeast, a lot of this rain is going to push into the northeast. new york city could see two to three inches of rain. flood watches and warnings in the d.c. metro area, we've seen two to five inches of rain today. the same situation, the showers going over the same area for several hours at a time and not letting up. that's what's causing all of this rain. >> jennifer grey, we'll get back to you. ashton hayward mayor of pensacola, joining us live. thanks very much for coming in. first of all, what's the latest on your search rescue efforts? everyone in your town at least

safe? >> everyone in our town is safe, wolf. we have no confirmed deaths in the city of pensacola. one confirmed death in the county. we've been doing rescue all night. obviously starting late in the evening last night into the early morning hours. we've been very fortunate, helping people out of cars and homes. >> when i think of pensacola, the panhandle i think of the threat of hurricanes, as i'm sure you're very familiar with, floods. how unusual is it to get flooding like this? are folks prepared for these kinds of floods? >> i can tell you, wolf, it's an anomaly, in all due respect. coming back home from new york city, having hurricane ivan hit us in 2004, great flood in 2012, now last night we thought the concern was tornadoes. and then the storm just sat over pensacola and dumped over 22 inches in less than 24 hours. this was unexpected for our

community. >> so what happens now? do people have flood insurance? what do you need? what do the people in pensacola need? this is a major city. >> the governor called me at 4:20 central time, wolf, and left tampa to tallahassee, straight over here, brought the national guard, his team of d.o.t. folks and as you said, some of our citizens do have flood insurance and some don't. but everyone's working together. the city, county, state of florida. we're coming together. as you said earlier, we're very proactive when it comes to storms. so right now, all hands are on deck. >> so what do you think in the next two, three days? more bad weather or is it -- is the worst of it over? >> the weather forecast is clear to our understanding, wolf. it's going to take a lot of man hours and time to get our roads back. we've had floods like you've never seen that look like a river, like your reporter talked about earlier.

pensacola's not used to that. we've got teams on the ground from public works department, engineering department, and we're going to make it happen because you've got people out of homes tonight. probably close to 1,000 people that are going to be displaced tonight and in the weeks to come. >> mayor ashton hayward of pensacola, good luck to you and all of the folks in the panhandle. we'll stay in touch with you as well. take a look at this. this is a live picture, coming into "the situation room," from nearby baltimore, maryland. a street has apparently collapsed. these are images courtesy of affiliate wjz. heavy rain all day in washington, baltimore area, emergency crews assessing the situation. we'll keep following this story for you as well. not pretty. still ahead -- a helicopter tour reveals massive tornado devastation. dozens of lives lost. countless more turned upside down. we'll go live to the disaster zone. a shocking appearance at a

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complicated relationship with her billionaire husband and her own legal wrangling. our national correspondent, suzanne malveaux, here in "the situation room" with more. what are we learning about this rather complex situation? >> it gets more complicated, wolf, because she's been sparred from a lot of -- spared from the scrutiny but that's changing. learning about her from court documents we obtained from several federal lawsuits filed against both her and her husband for alleged housing discrimination. these suits settled out of court but pulled back the curtain, exposed accusations against both of them for alleged racist remarks to black and latino tenants. >> reporter: immediately after her husband, donald sterling, rant hit the airwaves shelly sterling stood by her man, leaving an l.a. steakhouse by his side, she defended him. >> are you a racist, mr. sterling? >> no, of course not. >> reporter: earlier that same day, she reported lid told tmz, our family is devastated by the

racist comments made by my estranged husband. my children and i do not share the despicable views or prejudiceans court documents include accusations to the contrary. in 2007, the sterlings were sued for housing discrimination. involving a los angeles apartment complex they owned. tenant daryl road stated in the deposition, when he asked mr. sterling if she would reduce his rent, she replied, who do you think you are you black mf. he also testified that she called hem a black mf several times during another exchange. the court documents reveal sterling unequivocally denied ever using a racial slur. the sterlings ended up settling the case for $2.7 million. since the racist audiotapes emerged, shelly sterling has gotten a pass. while her husband is now banned from showing his face at any nba event, shelly got l.a. head

coach doc rivers' permission to attend tuesday's game where she sat out of view in a suite. >> it's a tough one for shelly, really. you know, she didn't do anything wrong either and you -- you have compassion for her. >> reporter: she even asked him for a favor. >> she just wanted the players to know that she told me to tell them that she loved them. >> reporter: rivers and the players association have made it clear, they want a clean break from both of them. sports attorney david cornwell says shelly sterling has no legal claim over the team. >> the decision to remove or terminate the franchise would apply to him and her as well even if she was, quote, a minority owner, at less than a majority interest in the team. this is done. >> reporter: as for donald sterling's girlfriend, v.

stiviano wearing a bizarre face mask. >> one day i will become president of the united states of america and i will change laws and modern day history civil rights movement. >> so everyone is in the spotlight for now, it will be interesting to see if or when donald sterling emerges and whether or not he's going to address those racist remarks, wolf. >> amazing what the story gets more bizarre. thanks very much, suzanne malveaux. more with the former nba star, kareem abdul jabbar joining us los angeles behind the film "on the shoulders of giants" about the all-black team, harlem ravens and the role in the civil rights movement. a powerful, powerful film. joined by rachel nickels in new york. >> you worked for donald sterling, you said you were aware of his track record, you wrote a piece about it. you and others suggesting it's taken way too long to punish

this guy. so what's going on here? >> well, i think the fact that mr. sterling understood that his views might not be received very well, gave him the incentive to keep it under wraps and this recording, like pulled down the mask, so to speak. we have this situation that we have. >> how surprised were you when you heard those audiotapes? >> i wasn't very surprised because of the thing that you mentioned earlier where he was discriminating against people who wanted to rent some of his properties. and the only reason that they couldn't rent the properties, they were the wrong color or wrong ethnicity. that's not what america's supposed to be about. >> his estranged wife shelly, do you know next about her? >> no. i met her a couple of times. she seems to be a very nice lady but i have no idea. but this whole idea about what

we've gone through, something that i wrote about in the greatest team.com, it's right there for everybody to see. some people don't put their views out there unless they feel that they can do it in confidence. until you get behind closed doors with people, sometimes you don't find out where their hearts really are. >> this time we found out a lot about this guy. rachel, is it possible that the wife, shelly, could wind up being the owner of the clippers? >> i think david is right, it's unlikely she would end up owning the clippers. is she going have a hand of running the team in the interim? doc rivers talking about the fact he doesn't know who he reports to now. she's still involved in the organization and it's interesting to hear the comment from doc, shelly didn't do anything wrong, i've got to believe that doc just doesn't -- isn't aware of some of the information in those lawsuits that suzanne was talking about, because in those lawsuits in some of the testimony, there's

also information from some of the former housing managers in the apartment buildings that shelly and donald sterling owned, and they talk about the fact that shelly would come in and pose as a health inspector and write down the et necessities of the taeenants afr talking to them. testimony from former housing managers she would tell them what tenant she's wanted and she didn't want certain ethnicities, children, things like that. after reading that you get a better idea who shelly sterling is, aska ream says, sometimes you don't know until you hear what people do behind closed doors. i've got to tell you, i personally heard enough about shelly sterling, i don't want her anywhere near the team before we decide what the nba's going to do about divorcing the clippers from the sterling altogether. >> kareem, the next two or three weeks very have to decide, there are 30 owners, they need 3/4 to approve the ligs thresolution t

team. any doubt that 23 owners will vote that he must sell the team? >> i'm pretty sure they're going to vote that way because they don't want his face to be the face of the owners of the league. how can they sell the nba to people around the world? we have great athletes from every part of the world wanting to come here and play in the nba. it's a wonderful thing. it say so much about the game and the american way of life. if you've got game, you can come here and play. you can't have someone like mr. sterling with his views as the face of that. so i'm pretty sure they're going to react and do the right thing and try to keep him as far away from the game as they can. >> fighting racism for so many years. in the latest article you wrote, it's powerful what you wrote, if we're going to be outraged, let's be outraged that we weren't more outraged when his racism was first evident. instead of being content to punish sterling and go back to sleep, we need to be inspired to

vigilantly seek out expose and eliminate racism at its first signs. go ahead and elaborate a little bit on what you mean. >> well, what i mean is that, as soon as we had the opportunity, commissioner silver saw what the problem was and dealt with it immediately, he didn't let any complacency set in. he understood it was ugly and it was not us, it was not the basketball world, and he wanted to make a statement for all of the people who love the game and for all of the people who love america. because they're one in the same in this instance. he was able to really make a great statement as to how we feel, as athletes and how the nba family feels about bigotry. >> he's -- he just started as the commissioner, adam silver, february 1st his first day though he had been working for the nba for many years. i think he's getting universally

applauded for the decision. he was tough, forcele, did the right thing. you have this doubt he will deliver, votes will be there. it could be unanimous among all own to force sterling to sell. >> i wouldn't be surprised if it was. >> it's amazing how the nba's turning this from intensely negative story, which it was over the weekend and for the first few days, to what is becoming a positive story, not only with adam silver's handling of the situation, the universally positive response but the l.a. clippers are up for sale, man are there people saying i'd like too buy the clippers. wolf, i don't know if you want to put in a bid, i've got to tell you, the biggest bidders that i've heard about, david geffen, along with oprah winfrey, the latest report. it would be great to have another minority owner if oprah was involved. larry ellison involved in the team. they have to take into account

who can put up the most money. talking about three of the richest people in america. if they decide to actually bid on this team together, last night you had shelly sterling sitting in one of the boxes and they keep going back and forth to her and we talked about her history, if you could replace that with oprah and david geffen and larry ellison, i think the nba would take that pr, don't you? >> you know, it's funny when you think about one ironic moment, maybe it's not that funny, kareem, your thoughts on this, if the milwaukee bucks sold recently for $600 million, relatively small media market like milwaukee, there's a bidding war for the clippers. i'm guessing it could go for a billion dollars. the irony, who's going to get that money? that would be sterling who paid $12 million for the clippers in 1981. so if oprah and company and other hugely wealthy people start bidding for that team that money in the end winds up in sterling's pocket. >> it will wind up in sterling's

pocket, nothing we can do about that. he owns the team. but i think the league will be a lot better off without someone with his views sitting in their ranks. i think it's worth it for whatever reason to see the end of his reign in our city. it was a horrible thing to have to sit through all of these years, knowing some of the things that he did. to see the end of that, it's worth it. >> kareem, thanks for joining us. documentary "on the shoulders of giants," you have to see. everyone who hasn't seen it should look forward to seeing it. much more coming up on the story, because the fallout continues. well armed and well equipped gunmen continue taking over cities and towns in eastern ukraine. where are they coming from? can anything stop them. plus, worldwide pushback against the company that claims

they have detected debris from malaysian airlines flight 370. can the claim be right? stay with us. you're in "the situation room." frequent heartburn? the choice is yours. chalky. not chalky. temporary. 24 hour. lots of tablets. one pill. you decide. prevacid. ♪ 24 hour golive garden'svorites asignature favorites, just $10 including creamy fettuccine alfredo, and our classic lasagna. plus unlimited soup or salad and warm breadsticks. signature favorites, just $10 all week long, at olive garden.

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breaking news. wildfires burning out of control in southern california right now. cnn's paul vercammen once again joining us from rancho cucamonga, about 40 miles east of downtown l.a. so what are you seeing now, paul? >> reporter: well, wolf, while it it did clear up, wind still whipping around and they've. the problem all day, because they reached gusts up to 80 miles an hour. here on banyon street where they made their stand. look down this way, engines headed there. all along here they've been able to guard against the flames, some 800 acres burned so far. the fire coming out of the hills and burning down in fingers towards us. so severe, they evacuated high school, elementary school, several, a middle school. off in the distance you can see flare-ups right here. you see the bulldozer did a great job of cutting fire leans

in here and right beyond me is a flood control channel. cement, rocks do not burn. this was advantageous to firefighters as they dug in here. the concern, the drought. we've had dry, awful weather in california for a few years now and this weather got unseasonably hot here in late april. tomorrow, another hot day expected. so the firefighters here have been fighting it solely on the ground, about 350 of them digging of them in structure protection. as i pointed out before, still not enough of a die-down in the wind yet for helicopters to drop water on the fire or fixed wing aircraft, drop any retardant on this blaze. >> when do they think the wind will die down to let aircraft, helicopters, planes to do something about this? >> reporter: well, they were hoping for early evening pacific time. this was unique. sometimes you talk about the california fires and everyone

talks about the sundowner winds. this was almost opposite that. we had violent, strong winds right in the middle of the day. so it was almost backwards and that's why they were so up against it for so long. a fire, just came roaring through here, wolf. it was just moving at a quick and rapid pace. but as i said, they did a good job of digging lines and used all of the asphalt and this flood control channel as a defense against it. so they may not need the choppers as desperately as they did around noon but hopefully at night they can drop water and fire retardant. >> paul vercammen in southern california. other news following including very disturbing, new developments in eastern ukraine where pro-russian militants seized more cities and towns today. over and over, we're seeing scenes like this. uniformed and masked gunmen standing guard at captured government buildings where they've piled up tires and wires

to keep everyone out. today ukrain's acting president complained the country's security forces are helpless. let's bring in chief national security correspondent shim shuuto watching this. >> beyond the ukrainian, the witnesses, the eastern europeans worried about the expanding beyond ukraine's borers and today, president obama acknowledging those concerns with a visit to poland. this is not on the schedule originally. it's added to a scheduled visit in june to france for d-day. this follows deployment of additional u.s. troops and aircraft to nato allies bordering ukrain but so far none of the gesture by the u.s. and west changed the situation on the ground inside ukrain. >> reporter: in eastern ukrain, this is the new normal. pro-russian militants occupying government buildings, broken windows barricaded from the

inside, and masked gunmen patrolling hallways amid barbed wire and sandbags. this is one of dozens of towns and cities in the east no longer under the control of the kiev government. ukrainian leaders concede local police are helpless to confront militants and announced they're putting the ukrainian army on full combat alert. >> translator: it's not a secret russia's still massing forces on the northern, eastern, southern border of ukrain and they are ready to invade our territory. >> reporter: in a shoaf support to ukrain and nervous u.s. allies in eastern europe, vice president biden announced the president will travel to poland in june. >> what russia needs to know, it cannot, and i believe they do know, have it both ways. if russia wants to benefit from the united states, it has to respect that order and abide by the rules. otherwise, it's going to face

growing cost and growing isolation. >> reporter: still, the administration's response has so far underwhelmed republican lawmakers who introduced legislation today to send $100 million of direct military assi assistance to ukrain including anti-tank, anti-aircraft weapons and small arms and vastly expand current economic sanctions to include major banks, energy companies and arms suppliers in russia. >> we're not accusing the administration of doing nothing. we're saying nothing they are doing is in any way a break on putin's behavior and for us to refuse to even give them defensive weapons is an outrage. it's a scandal. >> the american public, however, is far less outraged. the new "wall street journal"/nbc news poll fine half 0 of the americans surveyed want the u.s. to be less active in international affairs, 47% want it to be less active.

only 19% more active. about a third happy with the current level of involvement. and that seems to be reflected in the policy here but it also seems to be the obama foreign policy theory. talked abo talked about hitting singles and doubles, setting reasonable goals instead of lofty goals. the criticism from republicans it's not achieving anything. >> you can't blame the american people for to be isolationists given the experiences of iraq and afghanistan for a decade, cost, price, human lives and treasures. totally understandable. >> two decade-long wars, a lot of blood and treasure. >> jim sciutto, more on ukrain coming up in our next hour. check out an australian company's surprising claim it detected plane wreckage thousands miles from where searchers are are looking for malaysia airlines flight 370.

they believe possibly it could be that plane. right or wrong, are they seeking pub list si? what's going on? brian todd high above the tornado damage in alabama. >> i'm brian todd flying over the worst hit areas in alabama, devastated by the recent round of tornadoes. we'll give you a unique perspective from the air, just ahead.

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new controversy erupting in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. despite skepticism from expert worldwide, officials of an

australian company standing by their claim of detecting plane wreckage from the bay of bengal. they aren't saying it's the missing jet, they are urging officials to take a closer look. cnn's anna coren reports. >> reporter: as the search continues for mh370 in the waters of the southern indian ocean more than serve weeks after the plane's disappearance, a team of scientists from an australian mining exploration company believe they may have found its location, over 5,000 kilometers away. >> we are not into making theories. it's a scientific proven fact the location there are chemical elements that are part of the plane. >> reporter: geores sans convinced through imaging it has found the remains of an aircraft in the bay of bengal, 190 kilometers off the coast of bangladesh. >> isn't quite the word, it was

totally incredible when we saw the results that we believed to be the wreckage of an aircraft. it was, yes, incredible. >> reporter: search began four days after plane's disappearance,est ittinger to elements, titanium, copper found in a boeing 777. working off the last radar detect they searched the northern corridor, covering over 2 million square kilometers until they found the match. analysts are skeptical of the technology there the most fundamental reason for the skepticism they talk about multispectral imaging and there is none that i'm aware of that is going to penetrate 1,000 meters under the ocean. >> reporter: the director stands by their findings, but is not prepared to divulge their methodology. >> a lot of valuable brought up over last 30 years, led to

intellectual property and we tend on keeping it private. >> reporter: no one is claiming it's mh370 but the image of the same area conducted three days before the plane disappeared turned up none of the elements. final report sent two weeks ago to malaysia airlines and all countries involved in the search but despite repeated efforts to make contact, no one responded. geores son based here denies it's a publicity seeking effort. when the malaysian, chinese, failed to respond that's when they went to the media, believing it's their moral obligation to the families of the victims of of mh370. >> in proved correct, it's fantastic for the families to bring closure. if not, let us discount it and move on. >> reporter: something the families and relatives of the 239 people on board are so desperate to do.

anna coren, cnn, australia. >> and just ahead, we follow other breaking news. a groundstop at l.a.x. getting new information, stand by what's going on in los angeles. also, a heartbreaking look at the tornado devastation from above. revealing the jaw-dropping extent of the devastation that killed dozens of people. more breaking news. back live to pensacola, florida. seeing some of the worst flooding in that state in memory. we'll get the latest. the governor of florida, rick scott, live. [ hypnotist ] you are feeling satisfied

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some major breaking news coming out of los angeles. you're looking at live pictures from lax. the los angeles international airport. where there's been a ground stop. rene marsh has been watching this story for us. rene whar rene, what's going on? >> wolf, i just got off the phone with the faa. here's what we know. very little bit of information at this point. we are seeing that ground stop there because of a problem, a computer problem, a technical issue at the l.a. center essentially that is not lax but a center, a facility that handles safely spacing out the aircrafts at high altitude. they're having a computer problem there. in order to address the computer problem, they're essentially just slowing down and stopping traffic because the problem is you want to be able to -- you don't want to have a situation where you can't safely space these planes apart. that's why we're seeing that ground stop while they deal with, again, this computer issue which is at a facility in los angeles. again, they deal with spacing

out these planes at high altitude. that's information we have now. >> and this air traffic control center in los angeles, it could impact other cities as well. we know burbank, for example, there's been a stoppage in burbank. maybe vegas, phoenix, other areas that are controlled by this l.a.-based control center. is that what you're hearing? >> again, faa not giving us a lot of information. we do know there are other airports where they're seeing traffic stops. we know there's also a lot of weather around. we have to go through that to determine if it's weather or this issue. >> miles o'brien is here. you're working your sources, too. what are you hearing? >> we need to understand what we're talking about at these centers so people understand. when you talk about the centers, that is the largest swath of space. that's covering the on-route system, the higher altitude as you say. as you get closer to an aircraft, you get into tracon, terminal radar. that's the regional area. then you get down to the tower

radar. if the radar fails in these big regional swaths, it has a huge ripple effect throughout the regio region. as it gets closer and closer to the airport, the implication and failures become more localized. we should just be watching this. whenever you talk about computers and radar, they're intertwined. we've been talking about that with the malaysian airliner a lot. that the transponder airline that is on there that provides the controllers the information about what the aircraft is headed -- >> if there's a stoppage in l.a., there's a domino effect all over the country. >> even if it's just l.a., there's a domino effect. this could be a regional thing that could have greater implications. >> they feel as though they're working out this issue. they tell me they hope to have it resolved soon. that could be an hour, two, three hours from now. >> that could really disrupt traffic across country. we'll stay on top of this story, guys. thanks very pump. other breaking news we're following, deadly flooding inundating parts of florida, triggered by unbelievable

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son: look, a finger. captain: that's unsettling. man: you think? captain: all the time. except when i sleep. which i would not do here. hotels.com would have mentioned the finger. happening now, breaking news. historic flooding. crews have been racing to rescue trapped residents near the gulf coast. we'll get a live update from the florida governor. he's been touring the flood doe. fire emergency. hundreds of homes are evacuate in california as hot, dry winds fan the flames and the danger. nba drama. could donald sterling's wife take ownership of the l.a. clippers now that he's been banned for making racist remarks? we're digging for new information on that angle right now. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news.

>> let's get right to the breaking news this hour. extreme weather threatening homes and lives on both coasts of the united states right now. we're tracking floods, fire, and violent storms. millions of americans are now affected. we could see more potentially deadly tornadoes, torrential rains, and high winds in the immediate hours ahead. our correspondents are in the danger zones. we're tracking the forecast in cnn's severe weather center. let's go live to pensacola, florida, where homes and cars were literally swallowed by floodwaters as torrential rains hit overnight. our severe weather expert chad myers is there. chad, what was it, like, 15 to 20 hours of nonstop rain? >> reporter: yes, and in one hour, one rain gauge picked up 5 inches of rain. they have to think this place picks up between 45 and 50 inches. what they had in some spots almost 2 feet of rain in 24 hours. that's half of a year's worth of rain. there's just no place for it to go except up and we did see this area right behind me right here,

this is piedmont road here. and all the way through here, this road is completely gone. we walked this road with the governor earlier today. residents there just -- they couldn't believe it. they never even experienced flooding in ivan or katrina, nothing like this. now their road literally looks like a river. water still coming into the river and flushing on down the street. the residents told me that the drains weren't taking any more water and at that point in time it went up, up and up and roadway was washed out from below. it was a dangerous night last night because it happened at night for many people. the water came up, the water came in then they had to go up. in some instances those residents went into the attic. sound like katrina in new orleans? they went into the attic to escape the floodwaters that were coming up in their homes last night, wolf. something else, we just didn't want to hear about, we just heard a rumble of thunder here and that thunder could mean more showers on the way. the problem yesterday was that it was one storm and then it moved away. then another storm and it moved

away. then they all cluster together. you can probably hear the helicopter taking shots, photos of this damage right here in my microphone. another storm here and another storm here. that trains effect, like trains, like the boxcars on a train going in the same place because the train track stays in the same place. that's the event that they had here and it certainly washed out a lot of memories for people. they lost a lot of things. it was a flash flood. i was under water, my feet were under water at least a couple hours ago. now it's down. that doesn't matter to the people that's drywall's wet, their hardwood floor is wet, their couches are wet and all their things that were anywhere near the bottom of their house all wet and have to be thrown away. big disaster here. >> it was that video that we're showing you viewers, look at this from the area, the pensacola area. it's so dramatic what's been going on over there, chad. i know that they're sort of bracing for tornadoes. was the rain, the torrential rain a total surprise? >> reporter: it was a total

surprise. we were chasing tornadoes yesterday in mississippi and alabama, and the rain that came down here was supposed to feed those tornadoes. the storms up there never developed. they never got big enough because down here absorbed all of the moisture. absorbed it into the thunderstorms and it rained in one spot. so what was good for mississippi, alabama, georgia, parts of the carolinas, great news, no tornadoes, was devastating for the people here across parts of escambia over toward walton. all the counties right along the gulf coast that i love so much because we come visit them every summer. >> yeah. all right, chad, stand by. i want to go to pensacola resident cindy bonner joining us on the phone. cindy, you sent us very dramatic video. we're going to show it to our viewers right now. what was if lit like? what did you experience? >> caller: overnight, it just never slowed down. it was the thunder and the rain from early last night to early hours this morning after the sun actually, well, after the light

came up. and it was just nonstop. you could hear thunder. you knew it had just hit something. it was scary. it was scarier than any hurricane i've ever been through. >> you've lived through hurricanes in pensacola. have you ever seen flooding like this? >> caller: never. absolutely not. the difference in the hurricane than this, you have time to prepare for a hurricane. this was not something that anyone had prepared for. we didn't have batteries, we didn't have water, the extra stuff that we normally would get for a hurricane. >> as chad said, our meteorologist, there was no photograph, no warning that, what, 15 hours of nonstop rain was on the way? >> caller: yeah. it was basically just another storm moving through. the kids, one of my kids was at an event last night. she couldn't get home until about 9:30, and school's been canceled today and tomorrow. >> and then, but people are

going to try to reassemble their lives. so many homes have literally been washed out, roads washed out. this video you sent to us is so, so powerful. people all over the country can relate to what's going on because they know these kinds of neighborhoods and see this destruction, see this damage and it is totally, totally heartbreaking. how scared were you, cindi, when this was all happening? r >> caller: i was scared. i was texting back and forth with my friend who lives on that road that i sent you the video for, and i couldn't let my kids know that i was just -- i was scared. i got them back to sleep. put batteries in their sound machines, cranked them up loud so they could get sleep. we lost our power, love our water at about 9:00 last night and didn't come back on until 1:30 this afternoon. so it was scary, but there's nothing we could do. i wasn't going to leave. so we were there. >> cindi bonner, good luck to

you and your friends and family over there. thanks your sharing the joid. florida governor rick scott declared a state of emergency. warning residents to be on guard for more rain and maybe more flooding. he's been touring the hardest hit areas of the flash floods. the governor is joining us live from pensacola. governor, thanks so much. has everyone been rescued? are people missing? what's the latest on that front? >> sure, wolf. i got here as soon as i could this morning. we had over 300 individuals asking to be rescued. all those have been rescued today. we don't have anybody that we know of that's still asking for rescue. you can see the street behind me. all these homes are evacuating. they don't have power. they don't have water. we have so many roads washed away. we have part of our scenic highway washed away. and this was a complete surprise to these people. they woke up at 12:30, 1:00 in the morning with an inch or 2 or 3 or 4 inches of water many their house and just shocked what was going on. they came out.

there's cars overturned. there's cars that fell off the highway. but we have rescued everybody that we know of that's asked to be evacuated. some people from their attics. and this community is already coming together. as i see and talk to people, i've been here all day. individuals are helping each other. they're going in helping store owners get started again this will be a vibrant community that's going to come back strong. >> we know that the florida highway patrol has reported one death associated with the flooding. you know the circumstances surrounding that, governor? >> wolf, i don't know. i've not been -- that death has not been confirmed to me, but we brought highway patrols here, we brought 24 high-water vehicles from the national guard here. we brought every resource the state has here. we're talking to fema. they're going to be on the ground on friday. we're going to make sure our citizens get taken care of. >> this was totally unexpected. we're told. our meteorlogist chad myer said there had been really no serious

forecasts. there was some fear of tornadoes, but 15 hours of nonstop rain and eventual flooding, that took everyone by surprise. what happened here? i'm sure you're going to do a little review to make sure the next time around the folks are better prepared. >> you know, wolf, we get ready for hurricanes. we know what to do for hurricanes. we even know what to do for tornadoes. we just didn't expect this flash flooding. up to -- they say over 22 inches overnight. 5 inches in one hour. we just never expected it. areas of our city, of the city of pensacola never anticipated they would have water like this through their streets. like the street behind me, no one, there's individuals who lived on this street for 50 years. i talked to one lady, she had never seen water like this onnier street. she's just shocked it would happen. 80 years old. by herself. and was scared to death in the middle of the night when this start eed happening. >> we're told more rain is now forecast over the next day or two. what do you anticipate,

potentially, let's hope not, could there be more flooding, governor? >> oh, we still anticipate as the water goes into the rivers, we're going to have some river flooding. we hope we won't have very much rain so we won't get more flooding in the city like what we're seeing right now. there's still water flowing through our streets. i was at one house where they basically, it was almost off the slab. the whole back of the house had been washed away underneath. so, you know, you couldn't get close to it. the highways, some of the highways i was on, all underneath had been washed away. we're hoping for no more rain. unfortunately, the forecast is for more rain. >> governor, good luck to you. good luck to everyone over there in the panhandle of pensacola, especially we'll stay in touch, governor rick scott of florida. thank you. >> thank you. thank you, wolf. there's another breaking story we're following in "the situation room." a fast-moving wildfire that forced thousands of people from their homes in california. cnn is near the scene joining us

now live. what's the very latest, paul? >> reporter: well, wolf, the fire continues to move west. as you can see, there's haze and smoke off in the distance. the fire burning mainly in the wildland beyond this area. this is where they made their stand along this road. of course, using the cement and a flood control channel as a way to defend against the blaze. 1,600 people evacuated, and as you pointed out, we had 800 acres burned. now, steve, come on in here. this is his house right behind me. we'll show you in a second. you were at work. your wife had to grab everything. what was she taking? >> she took our pictures, computers, birth certificates, all our important documents. she couldn't barely see even in the house it was so smoky. the smoke alarms were going off. she got out safe but was very worried. >> reporter: you were frankly scared because right over here the fire burned dramatically toward your home. >> very close. we've been through this about eight years ago. came very close also then, too.

so we're not used to it, but we know how to pack up and go when it's time. and it was time this morning. >> reporter: go ahead and turn over here, david, and show his house. this is how close it came to your house. what an ominous greeting, 8:00 this morning. i know, steve, you said this is your birthday, so what does this do to all of your plans? >> i'm going to try to get back in there, get ready for some dinner and hopefully come back tonight. if not, we have alternative places to stay. >> reporter: the good news is you're home safe. i think your dinner reservation is probably blown. >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: i'm glad everything worked out for you. this area, completely evacuated. it was scary, and steve is one of the first civilians we saw around here in the last hour or so. reporting from rancho cucamonga, back to you, wolf. >> thanks very, very much. we'll check back with you. i want to two go to alabama, that state hit hard, flooding

and tornadoes. brian todd is joining us. what's the latest there? >> reporter: this is the kimberly church of god, roof of the chapel, torn completely off, the chapel. dumped right here. there were people inside the church taking refuge from the tornado when that happened. we got some extraordinary images from the air of this church. other buildings near here and the destruction in another hard-hit town. flying over besemer, alabama, see where the tornado swept right up a hill ripping into an apartment complex. it then tore through an adjacent neighborhood. the telltale sign of where it hit, the line of blue tarps. forecasters predicted these tornadoes would cut long tracks on the ground and would be violent. we saw that firsthand, riding in the air with veteran helicopter pilot, brian. >> it's tough for those guys right there. >> reporter: in besemer we peered right into two apartment buildings where the top floors were almost completely destroyed. one house had its roof sheered off. the house across the street left in tact. a clear indicator of how

tornadoes often bounce. >> one block can be just completely devastated. the next few houses over untouched. >> reporter: not far away, a massive tree sliced into a house. when we flew low over the town of kimberly, a jarring image. the kimberly church of god, a local landlandmark. the roof of its chapel next to the building. dozens of people took refuge in the church's basement when the tornado struck. one of the hardest hit buildings. the firehouse. take a look at the building with the red roof. completely pulverized. law enforcement officials tell cnn four people including the chief were holed up inside the fire station and happened to choose the only part of the building that remains standing. brian has tracked dozens of tornadoes from the air in this region. >> it's a shock. just imagine you look out the front yard, everything you own is out in the street. but the people in alabama pull together, they help each other. you know, you got friends that

live next door and they're willing to help you. >> reporter: the severe weather was not finished with alabama. when those tornadoes swept through this area. just after that, severe rainfall hit the state. more than 11 inches of rain hit mobile, alabama, aleonealone. we have extraordinary video of a swift water rescue. one man caught in these really fast-moving floodwaters. firefighters were able to get him a flow case device and eventually able to get him out safely. but some extraordinary images from mobile, alabama. this state, just like florida and some of the others around here, wolf, just getting pummeled by this round of storm. >> certainly is. brian, devastating this round of tornadoes was, people in the region have had a similar round before not that long ago, right? >> reporter: that's right. just a couple years ago, a storm cell with a lot of devastating tornadoes hit just in this area of the state and in athens where we were yesterday where some people got killed by this round. a group of about seven or eight tornadoes at least hit that area a couple years ago.

they said that there were more fatalities then but the destruction is more widespread in this one just because there were so many storms coming through this area, wolf. >> brian todd on the scene for us in alabama. thank you. heat and high winds, flooding and tornadoes. there's more weather danger in the hours ahead. our meteorologist jennifer gray is tracking all of this for us from our severe weather center. jennifer, let's start with the flooding. what's behind all of this? >> yeah. we've had this system that has been so slow moving. just like chad was saying, it's caused these storms to train or just follow one after another. and it has just produced incredible amounts of rain. he was mentioning he was hearing thunder. we do have some showers just offshore. that pensacola area. most of the showers will go to the east, but they are calling for isolated showers over the next 24 hours. so that is not good news at all. of course, we're not planning on anything like we saw in the wee hours of today. look at that. more than 10 inches of rain. that blob of white right over pensacola, that was just in that short amount of time, and this

is the river stage. you can see 10 feet and then in less than six hour, jumping up to more than 23 feet. that's incredible. water can rise very quickly with little or no notice. and so that's why more people die in flash flooding than anything else. more than hurricanes, tornadoes, anything. it's the flash flooding. more rain expected east in florida as we go through the next 24 hours, wolf. >> jennifer, what about the fires? how long are these conditions expected to last out in california? >> well, the good news is, the winds will start to die down as we go through the evening hours. this is where the fire is. this is los angeles, and this green that's onlying in, those very, very tight santa ana winds blowing off swshore, producing to 40 mile per hour sustained winds with gusts up to 80 in some places. very hot temperatures and also dew points in the single digits. so it's very, very dry. we're going to continue to get that offshore flow as we go

through thursday, but then look here, by friday, we'll start to get more of an onshore flow and that will start to help things quite a bit moving forward in time. so the winds will decrease tonight, increase again tomorrow, and then eventually shift to that onshore flow by friday, wolf. >> all right, jennifer, thank you. we'll check back with you. she's a busy, busy meteorologist. still ahead, the mysterious other woman at the center of the scandal surrounding the owner of the l.a. clippers. there are new claims about why she recorded donald sterling's racist rant. and a new investigation into a company's claim that it may have found flight 370. huh, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that game show hosts should only host game shows? samantha, do you take kevin as your lawfully wedded husband... or would you rather have a new caaaaaar!!!! say hello to the season's hottest convertible...

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tonight so we can bring you more coverage of the dangerous weather situation and some of the other stories we're following in "the situation room." there's lots of fallout as well as new questions about the fba's decision to force team owner donald sterling to sell the los angeles clippers. sterling has been banned for life from the nba because of his recently revealed racist rant. look at this. sterling's wife was on hand last night as clippers won an emotional playoff game. could she actually take over the team, would that undermine the league's decision in let's discuss. joining us from new york, cnn's rachel nichols and cnn's don lemon along with senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin who's here in washington with me. what do you think, rachel? apparently he's quoted as saying, sterling, he doesn't believe the clippers are for sale. what do we know about this? >> yeah, well he says that, and that maybe gives us an inkling

into whether he's going to fight this. if the other owners by a 3/4 majority or more decide if the clippers are for sale, guess what, the clippers will be for sale. he can try to tie that up in the courts. he won't win. he can at least try to delay it, tie it up, and maybe cause some other problems and could domino because doc rivers has said he doesn't want to work for donald sterling anymore. if the summer comes and donald sterling still owns the team because of legal tie-up, that could have legal repercussions of whether they can hold on to their coach and players. the team is going it be for sale. where does shelley sterling fit in? unlikely she can retain ownership because she can't buy out the team and part of him being done means that whole ownership group being gone and includes her. however, she has tried and she's making a little bit of a play to partly run the team until the nba takes the team away. and that is going to be a problem. because she has a racist history as well. >> she was in the owner's suite last night watching the clippers

play the warriors, don. there's a picture of her. what do you think? >> i think you should, you know, there's a little thing called self-awareness. and knowing when to quit. knowing when to say no. and knowing when to have some real compassion. listen, i know that she has a connection to the clippers. that's fine. she also has a connection to the most toxic part of the team right now. so, shelley sterling, have a seat. at home. not at the game. not in the owner's box. >> who kind of legal action, jeffrey, could donald sterling take if, if the owners vote, i assume they will vote, to force him to sell the team and he decides to fight it legally? what kind of case could he have? >> well, keep in mind that the constitution, itself -- >> which constitution? >> the constitution of the nba. good distinction to draw. there are several, yes. >> the nba bothers to mention the l.a. clippers. >> when james madison -- no, the

nba constitution says that the members of the ownership group cannot sue to undo any of the decisions. now, sometimes courts have found those provisions unenforceable, but in very rare circumstances. so the odds of sterling filing a successful challenge to anything the nba does is extremely unlikely. keep in mind, too, that as the nba moves forward with this three-quarters vote, this is going to be, if i can use a technical term, lawyered up the wazoo, to make sure he has no chance of challenging it in court. so it's just -- you know, anybody in america, for better or worse, can file a lawsuit, but the odds of sterling being able to undo or stop anything the nba is doing is really remarkable. >> he's going to take the -- >> go ahead. >> hold on for one second, don, because i want to point out to our viewers, addle silver, new commissioner of the nba will

have a conference call with nine of the owners tomorrow. this is the first step within the next two, three weeks. all 30 owners will vote. they need 23 to pass this kind of resolution. i assume it will be virtually unanimous. t go ahead, don. i want you to make your point. >> it's very clear in the bylaws which jeffrey toobin has read, the nba bylaws, and i'm sure, jeffrey, correct me if i'm wrong, if you're going to own a team you must sign a contract and you must sign on to in the bylaws. the last bylaw i looked at said whatever happens with the nba commissioner you eer once you h decided, once 2/3 of part of the governor's associations or owners u once they decide you can no longer own a team, it is a done deal and not enforceable in court outside of -- >> i agree -- >> -- of the nba. >> -- there's no question that's what the rules say. that doesn't mean -- jeffrey pointed this out, anybody can file a lawsuit. >> that doesn't mean he's going to win. >> he can file and tie things

up. there's even talk about whether he's going to try to file for a temporary restraining order to get back into the arena sometime this week. this is a guy, and i want to point out, it's against the nba bylaws to pick up and move your team without the nba's permission, right? this would seem to be obvious. guess what donald sterling did? >> moved his team. >> the san diego clippers. he wanted to move them to l.a. the nba said, no. he did it anyway. they fined him $25 million. he filed a countersuit in the courts even though he's not allowed to under the nba bylaws. that was so problematic for the nba to tie up one of their franchises. they ended up settling with him. >> rachel, don't you think this is a digit situation, though? >> of course. i don't think donald sterling is going to win this in any way et even through a settlement. i think we've seen a track record of him, etch thouthough e in the rules him trying to skirt them anyway. is he going to do it in this

case? he has a lot more people against him than when he moved the team to san diego. we have to acknowledge this is a possibility. >> no doubt. >> i doubt that -- listen, this is a different situation that the whole world is watching. that was a situation sort of indicative -- that was inside baseball so to speak, or inside basketball. >> the people of san diego. >> the people of san diego. but still, you know, for the way that the country and the world is looking at this, i doubt, and he may take it and drag it on in court, it would behoove him and everyone affected for him to just move on. >> i'll just point out when he did that 33 years ago, he was still in his late 40s. he's now 80 years old. so maybe he's had a change of heart as he gets older and older. jeffrey, v.stiviano, girlfriend, other woman, whatever you want to call her, she's told "the l.a. times" she worked for him as an archivist and the recordings were made, by her words, in mutual agreement. what do you make of that?

there are a lot of suggestions maybe these recordings were ill lee in california. >> california does have a law that says if you record someone, either in person or over the telephone, without their consent, it's a misdemeanor. it's very rarely prosecuted, but it is technically against the law. she is saying, apparently, that this was an open -- that this process was open. so there was no secret taping. even if it was secret, and even if it was technically against the law, that's not going to help donald sterling against the nba. >> get her in trouble, though. >> it could get her in trouble. she could be the -- she could be sued by him. but i think we can all say who cares? >> rachel, what do we know about this woman? v. stiviano? >> i love you guys are having a completely reasonable discussion about legal tactics. >> and the bylaws. >> there's a woman parading in front of you who looks like she's trying out for punk. by the way, if you noted the two

different roles of footage, she has different color visors. that one is a pink one. the earlier footage was a different color. apparently she's got a collection. this is what you're dealing with here. she came out on roller states yesterday. this is a black visor because it's nighttime. when it's nighttime, you need wrr black visor, right? you can't go out with a pink visor. that's ridiculous. >> i looked him up on the internet. there's a black one, purple one and there's a pink one. so -- i'm going to order it. >> she did say she was considering running for president of the united states as well. now, i wouldn't say she's the front-runner at this point, but, you know, that is, you know, something to consider in the mix. >> hillary hasn't announced yet, so -- >> wolf, can i talk about this two-party consent? as journalists we're very aware of that. called two-party consent. most parties have a one-party consent where you don't have to sign on. here's the background on that. she said he told her he was so

forgettable he'd forget what he wanted to say and sometimes had too deal with business. he wanted her to record him all the time. so if he forgot she could play it back or there was a record of it. if that is indeed true, that changes everything legally when it comes to this case. in that case, it can be said legally that it was a two-party consent. >> that's right. but the only point i was making before is, even if she was breaking the law, that doesn't help sterling against the nba. yes, it could get the two of them involved in litigation and wouldn't we enjoy watching that? but the -- it certainly doesn't help him in the main issue which is whether he continues to control the team. >> how's all of this, rachel, affecting the play -- the clippers won last night. they haven't won a playoff game, i take it, in a long time. for the long suffering l.a. clippers. they did win last night so they clearly were motivated. >> no, it definitely has meant a lot to them. look, when they lost the other night, doc rivers the coach made

the point they just weren't there mentally on the court. they lost by more than 20 points. last night they walk out, you can see it here, a standing ovation. just when they walk on to the court. really an amazing moment for everybody involved. just made them feel like the city was behind them. the entire, you know, just group of people, even the opposing team stopping to applaud for them. so that was a big deal. and it's interesting to note, this scene that you're seeing right now could have been so much different. these same players had gotten together earlier in the day and talked about possibly boycotting if adam silver's announcement wasn't as forceful as they wanted it to be, didn't go as far as they had wanted. they talked about maybe everybody getting together on the court. letting the ball go up in the air for the jump ball. then letting it hit the floor and walking away. so, you could have had a very, very different visual instead you got guys walking on to the court for a standing ovation. cheers. >> don, i think you'll agree with me, i've known adam silver for a long time. he worked for david stern, former commissioner at the nba

for many, many years. only february 1st of this year did he emerge as the new nba commissioner. he didn't waste any time. he was so decisive, so fast. he moved to fix a huge problem for the nba. by all accounts, i'm sure you agree he did a brilliant job. >> at first i was critical because i said i wanted him to suspend donald sterling pending an investigation. i'm not an attorney like jeffrey. apparently he knows the legal realm a lot better than we all do. and he did what was appropriate and did it correctly. i have to say, wolf, after that press conference, i had a lot of ladies texting me saying, hey, listen, is adam silver single? because they loved how he handled himself. i just want to get back quickly to what you -- what rachel said about last night. you guys were talking about the win. the entire country was rooting for this team except if you're a golden state diehard. i have to say, wolf, you know rick welch who's the general manager of this team. as a matter of fact, we came out

together, so to speak, on the same day in "the new york times." we have become good friends. i texted him yesterday and said, rick, i love you and love you and your team, but tonight i am rooting for the clippers. and he said, hey, listen, do what you want, don. we're all rooting for them in a way. we want to beat them, but the world is rooting for them as well. >> i was actually rooting for the washington wizards and they emerged and they came out going into the second round which is a long time for those of us who are watching -- >> got to get that in. >> -- washington wizard fans. jeffrey, wrap this up. a quick thought right now. will donald sterling fight this or will he walk away and take maybe a billion dollars? there are people lining up like crazy to buy this team. he could walk away as badly as he is with a billion dollars. >> i think the drama will continue for a while. will he or won't he? but this will end with donald sterling within a big wheelbarrow full of money. >> yeah. >> and, you know, there are a

lot worse fates. he is lucky that that's the worst thing that's going to happen to him. >> he bought the team in 1981 when it was in san diego for $12 million. and he could get, i think, a billion dollars when all the dust settles. >> go away, donald. go away. >> hey, don, thanks very much. you got a show at 10:00 tonight, don? >> i have a show. we will be talking about this. we will also be talking about, wolf, i know you have to go, where do we go from here? these big -- now that most of the sceptical of donald sterling is mostly behind us, where do we go from here? we have these big issues. they bubble up. we become outraged. then what happens after that? we go back to meantime. is this one going to be different? we'll talk about that tonight at 10:00. >> we'll be watching as we do every night. don lemon, jeffrey toobin, rachel nichols. excellent conversation. thanks your much. still ahead, there's other news we're following. very important news. more cities and towns slipping away from ukraine's control. we're going to show you what's happening now after they're

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today, pro-russian gunmen took over government offices in several more ukrainian cities and towns. at the same time, yukraine's acting president complained his security forces are either helpless or actually cooperating

with militants. our senior international correspondent arwa damon is joining us from eastern ukraine right now where the well-organized, well-supplied occupiers appear to be firmly in control. arwa, it looks like it's getting more dangerous. >> reporter: it most certainly is, especially when it comes to the stability in this region and the level of power that the central government holds over it that we've seen slipping by day. it's become a routine in eastern ukraine. barricaded windows, armed faceless men. this is the luhansk regional administration building the day after it was taken over. "we gave the local government an ultimatum about holding a referendum. they didn't respond" says oleg desyatnichenko of the southeastern army. we're being allowed inside but we've been specifically told not to ask any of the policemen that are in the building any

questions and also to be careful about who and what we're filming. inside, sandbagged fighting positions. and more armed men. this feels like a very unnatural, uncomfortable situation. there's a handful of employees here who clearly don't want to be filmed but one of the young women said that they basically just came to get their personal belongings and that she just want want to talk about the situation at all. it's understandable how unnerving it can be to be your place of work turn into this. the police force passive at best. a handful inside the building and on either side of the street blocking traffic. the press tour we are on stops at the local ministry of interior offices. no gunmen on site, but no really under kiev's control. "there's no support from kiev," the spokeswoman says, clearly irritated.

"they just called all of the employees of the luhansk police traitors." around the corner, the police headquarters the attackers tried to storm. those holed up inside clearly not wanting to talk. in the midst of tuesday night's pro-russian takeover, irina got a phone call from the police. her husband, a prominent human rights lawyer had been shot twice. "the police told me that armed men had brought him to the tv station," she recalls. the tv station also part of the pro-russian takeover. perhaps they wanted him to make a statement. she doesn't know. "he's russian by nationality, but he was open about being for united ukraine," she says, hoping he will survive. and doubting there will be any accountability. as this woman starts to burn the ukrainian flag, a man tries to stop her. he's tackled to the ground. "why are you taking the flag? don't do it" he pleads, "it's a

sin." but no one here is willing or able to stop it. and, wolf, at this junction in the crisis in eastern ukraine, the central government in kiev, the acting president there has basically come out and said his government has no control over the situation in donetsk or luhansk hoping perhaps that statement will urge his allies to try to exert pressure on russia to bring about some sort of an end to this crisis, wolf. >> arwa damon reporting for us. arwa, be careful over there, as i always tell you. thanks very much. just ahead, there's another developing story we're following. a ground stop in los angeles international airport. and right now, it's effecting air travel across the country. new information coming in. honestly, i'm pouring everything i have into this place. that's why i got a new windows 2 in 1. it has exactly what i need for half of what i thought i'd pay. and i don't need to be online for it to work. it runs office, so i can do schedules and budgets and even menu changes.

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another breaking story we're following right now with potentially huge ramifications all across the country. a vital air traffic control center now is gradually, gradually restoring a system that's causing flight delays around the united states. the gradually restoring a system that is causing flight delays around the united states. the faa's los angeles center air traffic control facility, which tracks high altitude air traffic stopped accepting flights for about an hour. as a result, l.a.x. ordered a ground stop. other flights were diverted or delayed. again, the system is gradually, gradually being restored. let's bring in cnn's rene marsh and our aviation analyst miles o'brien and peter. walk us through the latest information we're getting. >> as we speak, planes are still being diverted there is still that ground stop in place at l.a.x. and the root of this problem is l.a. center that is a high altitude facility that especially keeps planes safely spaced apart.

they're experiencing some computer problems. so as a result, they have that ground stop in place at l.a.x. and surrounding airports that deal with this specific facility. now, as you mentioned, they're gradually getting things up to speed. but it's not there, not there yet, not completely. and we have no timeline as to when they will solve this problem. of course, if this drags on very long, it just becomes a very nightmarish situation for people who are trying to get from point a to point b if you can't take off, also if you're being diverted. we just saw that the faa put out an alert saying even airports outside of the jurisdiction of this facility that is experiencing problems, they could experience gridlock, because you have all of these planes diverting to those airports you. you can just see how one issue turns into a triple effect situation for many, many other airports. >> and miles, we got a statement from the faa. and i'll read to it you. the faa's los angeles center air traffic control facility experienced technical issues and

stopped accepting additional flights into the airspace managed by the facility for about an hour. some flights were diverted and the agency issued a nationwide ground stop for flights heading into the airspace managed by the center. the agency is gradually restoring this system. but we've been talking about the domino effect, the ripple effect. flights are stopped there. this could cause serious problems all over the country. >> yeah. the big three airports in los angeles are los angeles, san diego and las vegas. so imagine all the traffic associated with just those three airports and then throw in burbank, john wayne, orange county just for good measure. this is the busiest hub of aviation in the world, in southern california. and so when l.a. center goes down, you have big trouble that will affect everything across the country. there has been ground stops all over the country as a result, but now it's coming back. >> coming back, but people planning on flying tonight, they're going to have some problems, peter. >> it's going to be challenging. and we're just getting into the evening rush out in the west

coast from 4:00 on, to about 8:00 is a really prime time for planes both landing and taking off. so if the faa doesn't get this center back up and going within the next hour, there is going to be some real delays. >> have they explained, rene, what they mean by technical issues? they've had some technical. what does that mean? >> right. we've been trying to drill down on that, what does that mean. the most that we have right now is that this is a computer problem. they are not able to electronically enter information. so they have to manually enter information here. so that's it. now, if you manually are entering this information, then you're obviously not able to effectively and quickly space out the airplanes. so to help them manage the airflow, they've stopped takeoffs. >> all right. we're going to stay on top of this breaking story for our viewers. thanks very much. we're also following some other breaking news this hour. stay with us. we'll take a quick break. more in "the situation room" right after this.

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here is a quick look at some of the other major stories worth watching right now. safety and environmental experts are on the way to lynchburg, virginia after a fire and train wreck. 12 and 14 cars of a train carrying crude oil jumped the tracks this afternoon. buildings near the derailment were evacuated. firefighters let the blaze burn out. at least three cars fell into the james river. but official says lynchburg's drinking water supply is okay. the benghazi terrorist attacks killed four americans is back in the news. the conservative group judicial watch obtained documents showing

the white house pushed hard for talking points linking the september 2012 attack to worldwide protests against an anti-muslim video. reporters confronted white house press secretary jay carney about that this afternoon. >> the implication is that we were somehow holding back information, when in fact we were simply saying what we thought was right. and when elements of that turned out not to be true, we were the first people to say so. >> despite denials like that, the republicans accuse the obama administration intentionally misleading people about the attacks so it wouldn't hurt the president's reelection campaign. today oklahoma's governor asked for an independent review of the state's execution procedures. a convicted murderer and rapist stayed alive for 43 minutes after what should have been an injection of lethal drugs tuesday, at one point saying, quote, man, i'm not, and something is wrong. he died of a heart attack. but another execution has been put off. remember, you can always follow us on twitter. go ahead and tweet me @would

have -- wolf blitzer. you can certainly watch us live or dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. next, will donald sterling fight to the death? could oscar de la hoya knock him out? i'm going to ask the boxing great tonight. he is my exclusive guest. plus, don sterling's women, the rivalry and secret past. and oklahoma. a witness tells us what went wrong. let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. sterling goes silent while scandal destroys his life. so far the los angeles clippers owner refusing to